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Eileen adds: “Even though I retired a few years ago, the family business grew in ways that Joe Underwood, my father-in-law who started our seafood business in Tin Pan Alley, could never have imagined.

“It was there we met Arthur Fielder, who ended up opening the Bookstall just across from us in the market.

“Ours were the last two original family businesses there that had passed through the generations.”

Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley was the name given to the temporary market stalls erected by Plymouth City Council in Drake Street, between the "back of the market" and Old Town Street.

These were for the use of former stallholders who had been displaced from the Pannier Market, presumably by the likes of Messrs Marks & Spencer and F W Woolworth.

Work started on erecting the stalls at the beginning of October 1941, having been delayed by the need to secure a license to obtain the necessary steel. Not surprisingly, the traders were not happy about it.

The stallholders claimed that by the council doing the work it 'deprives the owners of liberty of action and the right to deal with their own property''.

They even criticised the closure of Drake Street to become a market as the problem could have been solved easily by knocking down the northern wall of the Pannier Market into the former Sugar Refinery.

“Traders have come and gone, and we shall miss the friendships old and new; the routine of Barry unhooking the blinds for my girls every morning and the prospect of friendly chat with customers who came far and wide to support us.

“I don’t imagine Joe would have though the business would have lasted as many years; it’s a huge whole in my family’s lives now that it has gone.”

And although they've left, the Underwood's contribution will certainly be remembered.

Her friends at the Bookstall, which is now thought to be the only stall that has been trading since the market opened, left a touching message to the family on Facebook.

They posted: "Our two families have traded here together for the past 59 years.

"Over that time, the various generations have shared lots of laughter and the occasional tear together.

"Their passing will leave a void that won’t be filled, so we would like to wish Katie, Kerry, Brian and Eileen the very best for their respective futures."